The Behaviour of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream

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The Behaviour of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a play where the line between dream and reality disappears. It's about how love is magical. The play was written around 1598 and would have been preformed in the Globe Theatre. It is a comedy, because like almost all of Shakespeare's comedies it ends in marriage. In the play we get introduced to a character named Puck. He is a fairy and a loyal servant to Oberon. I have chosen Puck because he is the pivotal character in this play. I believe Puck is good and I will prove this by examining a few scenes in the play to prove is essentially a good character. Puck first appears in Act 2 Scene 1 when he runs into another fairy. We find out he is boastful and quite proud of himself because the fairy asks him if he is 'that shrewd and knavish sprite'. The words the fairy uses to describe him are 'shrewd', 'knavish' and 'sprite'. Shrewd because she thinks that he is very mean and nasty and the knavish meaning the fairy thinks he's childish and quite naïve because he doesn't know the outcome of his actions and how they may hurt people. The word sprite comes out quite strongly because a sprite is an evil spirit, while Puck is meant to be a sweet fun loving fairy. Puck simply replies: 'I am that merry wanderer of the night' He uses the word 'merry', which is used to describe drunks e.g. he's a bit merry. So he might think of himself just having some drunken fun or the word is also used for children so he may think of himself as a big little boy, like a sort of 'Peter Pan' or something having good fun. He also seems good because apparently those that call hi... ... middle of paper ... ...they 'be friends' then clap and give him 'your hands' and 'Robin shall restore amends' as in fix any problems. I think this speech is very important because we see he is capable of being serious when the time comes but still some bits may come out a bit mocking and cocky to the audience, and as a child he is saying sorry about anything that may have offended anyone. So he is not as 'knavish' and 'shrewd' as the fairy previously thought. So from all of this I still have to say Puck is a good character. He sometimes seems like a child and comes off a bit mean, but all through the play he has an air of innocence surrounding him so he seems okay, which is what makes him a very interesting character. Also, if Puck was 'Robin Badfellow' than wouldn't have Shakespeare have named him that instead of 'Robin Goodfellow'?

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